Rib-knitting machine



Patented Feb. l4, I899.

No, -6l9,642.

A. E. VAUGHAN.

RIB KNITTING MACHINE.

(Application and Kay 11, 1896.) (No Model.) -3 Sheets-Sheet l.

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RIB KNITTING MACHINE.

(Application filed May 11, 1896.)

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A. E. VAUGHAN.

RIB KNITTING MACHINE.

(Application And m 11, 1896.)

3 Sheets-Sheet s.

(No ModeI.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW E. VAUGHAN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

RIB-KNITTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 619,642, dated February 14, 1899.

Application filed May 11, 1896. Serial No. 591,106. (No model.)

To all whom, itmay concern.-

Be it known that LANDREW E. VAUGHAN, a citizen of the United States, residingin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Rib-Knitting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

One object of myinvention is to so construct a rib-knitting machine as to permit of the production thereon by a substantially continuous operation of a stocking having a ribbed leg and a plain foot with seamless heel and toe pocket, a further object being to provide for the proper taking up of the slack web constituting said heel or toe pocket as the same is being formed. These objects I attain in the manner hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a front View of sufficient of a rib-knitting machine to illustrate my present invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of those portions of the machine whereby the knitting is effected. Fig. 3 is a View representing the under side of the dial cam plate. Fig. 4 is a View showing the knitting-cams of the cam-cylinder. Fig. 5 is an enlarged View, partly in elevation and partly in section, of part of the take-up device; and Fig. 6 is an enlarged view, partly in section and partly in elevation, of another part of said take-up device.

A represents the usual vertical needle-cylinder; B, the vertical cam-cylinder; D, the

horizontal needle-dial, and F the horizontal dial-cam plate, the cam-cylinder B having any desired system of knitting-cams for causing the proper operation of the cylinder-needles in order to receive the thread and draw the stitches, these cams also permitting the lifting of the cylinder-needles out of action wh en it is not desired to knit upon them.

As shown in Fig. 4, the cams are those of the well-known Branson knitting-m achine; but it should be understood that this cam system is selected simply for illustration, as my invention is not limited thereto, but contemplates the use of any cam system having the functions which I have described.

The dial-cam plate F has the usual cams CL and b for projecting and retracting the dialneedles, so as to cause them to receive the thread and draw the stitches, the cam a being capable of adjustment, as shown by full lines in Fig. 3, so as to project the needles or, as shown by dotted lines in said figure, so as to fail to project the same. On the dialcam plate are also other cams c and d, the cam a being an adjustable projecting-cam and the cam d a retracting-cam, these cams being so located in respect to the projecting and retracting cams a and b that they are adapted to act upon the needles when the latter are away from the knitting-thread guide at, wherebythey will cause the dial-needles to cast the stitches upon them.

In a ring G, surrounding the needle-cylinder A, are mounted ordinary radially-moving web-holders f, adapted to retain the web upon the cylinder-needles when the knitting operation is being performed upon said needles.

The take-up roll at the base of the machine is carried by a swinging frame I and has a worm-wheel g, which meshes with a worm g on a shaft adapted to a bearing g pivoted upon the same axis as the swinging frame I, said worm-shaft being driven by a flexibleshaft connection g from a shaft h, which is driven by belt and pulleys from the main driving-shaft h. In addition to this general take-up I use a supplementary take-up for acting upon the slack web formed during the production of the heel and toe pocket, said supplementary take-u p consisting of a barbed plate J, having a stem mounted upon the upper end of a rod J, which is secured at its lower end to an arm i, projecting from a nut K, which has a movable toothed section K, as shown in Fig. 5, controlled by a lever K the latter being acted upon by a spring 1', which tends to force the toothed section K of the nut constantly into engagement with a threaded spindle M, which is driven by bevel-gears m m, Fig. 5, from a shaft M, the latter in turn being driven by belt and pulleys from the main driving-shaft h.

In knitting a stocking upon the machine described the web is started at the toe with the dial-needles out of action, the cam-cylinder being first rotated, so as to form a num ber of courses of stitches upon the needles of the cylinder A and a certain number of these needles being then raised out of action and the cam-cylinder then reciprocated, so as to form a flat web upon the remaining needles, this web being first gradually narrowed in the usual way by raising out of action in succession needles first at one end and then at the opposite end of the fashioningset, these needles retaining their stitches,

and when the desired narrowing has been eifected said needles being brought into action again in reverse order, so as to effect the production of a gradually-widened web and the seamless union of the same with the narrowed web previously produced. All of the cylinder-needles are then thrown into action and the cam-box is rotated, so as to form the tubular web for the foot of the stocking, and when the desired length of such web has been made the operations resorted to in forming the toe are repeated for the production of a seamless heel-pocket, after which a few courses of tubular web are produced and the dial-needles are then thrown into action, so as to receive the knitting-thread and form stitches alternating with those of the cylinder-needles for the production of the ribbed leg. During the production of the ribbed leg the cam c of the dial-cam plate occupies the inoperative position shown by full lines in Fig. 3; but when the desired length of ribbed web for the leg has been produced the dial-cam a is retracted, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, and the cam c is adjusted to r the position, also shown by dotted lines in said figure, so as to project all of the dialneedles at a point away from the threadguide, the stitches being thereby slipped back of the latches of said dial-needles, so that when the latter are retracted by the cam d these stitches will be cast off and the production of plain web upon the cylinder-needles can be continued, so as to form another foot with heel and toe pocket, it being understood that when the needles are retracted by the cam d they will remain in the retracted position during the formation of the next footweb, the cam abeing again moved outward when it is desired to resume the production of ribbed fabric for the leg. The stocking may also be produced by reversing this method of procedurethat is to say, by first producing the ribbed fabric for the leg of the stocking and then projecting the dial-needles, so as to cause them to cast their stitches, the needles being retained after being retracted, while the formation of the plain foot, with its seamless heel and toe pocket, is being effected upon the cylinder-needles, the dial-needles being again brought into action when it is desired to resume the production of ribbed fabric for the next leg-web.

By the use of the machine described I am enabled to producea stocking having a ribbed leg and plain foot with seamless heel and toe pockets by a substantially continuous operation and without any transfer of web from one machine to another.

The action of the supplementary take-up, acting upon the slack web of the heel and toe pockets, is as follows: In starting to produce a heel or toe pocket the lever K is depressed so as to withdraw the toothed section K of the nut K and permit the latter to be raised until the barbed plate J can engage with the web close up to the needles upon which the heel and toe pocket is to be produced, the lever K being then released, so that the toothed section K of the nut will engage with the threaded stem M, whereby said nut will be slowly drawn downward as the web is being produced, the threaded section K of the nut finally running clear of the threaded stem M, at the bottom of the latter, as shown in Fig. 5,'preparatory to the resetting of the device when another heel and toe pocket is about to be formed.

The general take-up roll on the shaft carrying the spur-wheel g is driven continuously and the knitted web passes down between the same and the small spring-pressed roller, (shown in Fig. 1,) the draft of this take-up mechanism being slightly less than the rate of production of tubular Web, so that the take-up rolls gradually descend on the web. During the formation of a heel or toe pocket, however, when no tubular web is being produced the take-up' rolls rise on the web preparatory to further descent, when the production of tubular fabric is again resumed.

Having thus described my invention, 1

claim and desire to secure by Letters Pat-.

ent-

1. A knitting-machine in which are combined a needle cylinder and dial and their needles, a cylinder having cams constructed to permit the cylinder-needles to be moved out of action, a dial-cam plate having a n'eedie-projecting cam adjustable so as to render the dial-needles inactive, and other cams on said dial-cam plate for actuating the dialneedles at a point away from the threadguide, whereby they are caused to cast their stitches, substantially as specified.

2. The combination in take-up mechanism for knitting-machines, of a power-actuated take-up device acting upon the complete web, a supplementary take-up device acting upon a portion of the web independently of the main take-up, and mechanism for positively actuating the supplementary take-up, substantially as specified.

3. The combination in a take-up device for knitting-machines, of acatch-plate, a nut upon which said catch-plate is mounted, a movable toothed section of said nut, and a threaded stem into and out of engagement with which said section of the nut can be moved, substantially as specified.

4. The combination in take-up mechanism for knitting-machines, of a catch-plate, a nut upon which the same is mounted, a threaded stem, and a lever mounted on said nut and carrying a movable toothed section of the same, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ANDREXV E. VAUGHAN.

Witnesses:

MURRAY 0. 130mm, Jos. H. KLEIN. 

